1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to obfuscating segment boundary markers, such as but not limited to obfuscating boundary markers used to identify beginning and/or ending boundaries of a sequence of segments forming a programming event.
2. Background Art
A sequence of segments forming a programming event, such as but not limited to a linear or non-linear television transmission, can include a number of boundary marker and content identifier messages. A device supporting output of the programming event relies upon these messages to perform any number of operations. Typically, the boundary markers define a beginning and ending point for each segment and the content identifiers identify the content carried within the segment.
Some of the devices supporting playback, such as digital video recorders (DVRs), may look for certain boundary markers and content identifiers in an effort to manipulate user exposure to certain portions of the programming event, such as to support fast-forwarding through commercial breaks and replacing commercials run during the commercial break with other content (referred to as digital program insertion (DPI)). This is problematic to advertisers and service providers relying on viewership of the advertisements to support revenue generation and sales.